The Dictionary Project

Home
United States
Coronado, CA
The Dictionary Project

The Dictionary Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The goal of this program is to assist all students in becoming good writers, active readers and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionaries.

06/20/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition combines two Latin words; iuxta, meaning "close to" and positio, meaning “to place”. It entered English in the mid-1600s, borrowed from French.

At its core, juxtaposition is the act of placing two or more things side by side.

Artists and writers use this technique to reveal unexpected connections, generate new meaning, or heighten contrast.

These pairings can be visual (light and dark), emotional (joy and sorrow), or conceptual.

06/19/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Struggle

Although President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it would be over two years of struggle before slaves in Texas were set free.

Today is Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and enforced General Order No. 3, extending federal emancipation to enslaved people in Texas.

Sometimes called 'America's Second Independence Day,' Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1866, though it was only recently made a federal holiday in 2021.

06/18/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Probability

The English word probability comes from the Latin probabilis, meaning "credible," "worthy of belief," or "provable." Probabilis itself comes from probare, meaning "prove" or "to test".

While probability has long been associated with what is likely or believable, it originally referred more to credibility and plausibility than to a numerical measure of chance. It did not gain its modern mathematical associations until the early eighteenth century.

06/17/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Circumlocution

Circumlocution comes from the Latin circumlocūtiō. It combines the prefix circum-, meaning "around," with the verb loqui, which means "to speak" — taken together, "to speak around."

It can mean simple wordiness, but also something more deliberate: the obfuscation of meaning through euphemism, innuendo, or misdirection.

06/16/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Spark

Florida’s St. Jude Thaddeus and St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Churches joined forces to donate dictionaries to the third grade students of Molino Park Elementary School. The gift sparked both curiosity and gratitude in each child who opened its pages.

06/15/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Beset

The word beset dates back to the twelfth century. It combines the prefix be- and the verb set, meaning "to place" or "to put."

The prefix be- is versatile: in bemoan it intensifies; in befog it means covered or enveloped; in becalm it turns an adjective into a verb. In beset, it means around, or on all sides.

Today, we link beset to the idea of being surrounded by enemies or overwhelmed by difficulty. But there is another, now archaic sense of the word: to set or fix objects onto a surface, as in a crown beset with jewels.

The word traces back to the Old English besettan and further still to the Proto-Germanic bisatjan. Both root words carry essentially the same meaning as the modern English version.

06/13/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Eternity

The English word eternity comes from the Latin aeternitas.

Like many Latin nouns describing important concepts, Aeternitas was thought of as a goddess.

She was a relatively late addition to the pantheon. Few stories of her survive, and there may not have been many to begin with. She was, in essence, a concept given form.

Because many Romans regarded the empire as permanent, she became conceptually tied to the very idea of Rome.

06/12/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Distraction

Over the past decade, American public schools have spent billions of dollars on laptops, learning software, and other forms of educational technology. Despite these investments, student's test scores continue to reach new lows.

In response to these troubling results, more than a dozen states have passed laws limiting screen time in schools. Educators and parents have increasingly pointed to digital distraction as a factor contributing to shorter attention spans and reduced student engagement in the classroom.

This growing movement to limit the time young learners spend on devices underscores the value of the Dictionary Project and our conviction that a physical dictionary remains one of the most important tools a child can use to develop literacy.

06/11/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Beneficial

Wisconsin’s Fitchburg-Verona Horizons Rotary Club recently visited third-graders at Milele Chickasa Anana Elementary School.

These students don't yet know how beneficial a firm grasp of the English language can be. But with their new dictionaries in hand, they're off to a great start.

06/10/2026

Today's Word of the Day: Miracle

Miracle comes from the Latin mīrāculum, which literally means "object of wonder", though it also meant "spectacle."

Mīrāculum itself stems from mīrārī, the verb "to wonder."

In English, the word has always been strongly connected to Christianity, but the history is a little surprising.

While modern versions of the bible use miracle, the word they're translating has entirely separate roots.

The New Testament was originally written in Ancient Greek, and the word most commonly rendered as miracle is dunamis, which means "power."

Address

PO Box 180159
Coronado, CA
92178

Telephone

+18438562706

Website

http://www.dictionaryproject.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Dictionary Project posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to The Dictionary Project:

Shortcuts

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Coronado?